This story is unique because it reads like prose but it looks like poetry. It is a unique depiction of life in the Dust Bowl, told from the fist-hand perspective of a young girl who has lived through it. I think this story would be a great way to incorporate poetry in the classroom, allowing for connection between genres. As I read "Out of the Dust", I kept thinking of ways it could be included in a classroom curriculum. Using this text would be an efficient and effective way for teachers to have students read and learn about literary genres at the same time. The book is a great story, with a lot of content that can be extracted and elaborated on (i.e. the history of the Dust Bowl, the Great Depression, etc.), but it is also an exemplary text, showing students what poetry and prose can look like and what different purposes they may serve.
In "Out of the Dust", the poems tell the story. By definition, prose does not have meter. This book is presented as a single story and it can be read cover-to-cover. However, it is set up in chunks of what appears to be poetry that is metered, structured, and even sometimes rhymed. It is the kind of poetry that especially our young students may not necessarily expect. What better way to introduce a unit on poetry?
Using this text, a teacher can segue into a unit on poetry and its different forms and purposes. Other texts (traditional and non-traditional) can be added to this one to prove the point that poetry is meant for interpretation and it does not always come in cookie-cutter form; it can take many forms. The teacher can, through primary and supplementary text, explore the different forms of poetry with students and teach them what it really means to write poetry. The teacher can conduct activities where he or she is asking students what they think about the "poetry" used in "Out of the Dust", whether or not they find it effective for the purpose of the story, whether or not they consider it poetry both before and after reading, and so on. The teacher can then have students use "Out of the Dust" as a model for their own poetry. The purpose is to link everything back to the text and allow for scaffolding of activities to build toward further learning. Each activity should build on the one before and help set up the next thing, weaving text and additional learning as well as personal practice and production.
"Out of the Dust" is a great tool for any teacher to use as a genre study. It takes the form of many different genres, depending on perspective, and by nature it can allow for further exploration of any of the literary genres. Do we consider it a novel, a story, an example of prose, or a collection of poetry? Is it a young adult or children's story, or something else? These are all questions a teacher can explore with his or her students through a unit, inspired by "Out of the Dust" on literary genres.
"Out of the Dust"
Intertextual Lens:
This story is unique because it reads like prose but it looks like poetry. It is a unique depiction of life in the Dust Bowl, told from the fist-hand perspective of a young girl who has lived through it. I think this story would be a great way to incorporate poetry in the classroom, allowing for connection between genres. As I read "Out of the Dust", I kept thinking of ways it could be included in a classroom curriculum. Using this text would be an efficient and effective way for teachers to have students read and learn about literary genres at the same time. The book is a great story, with a lot of content that can be extracted and elaborated on (i.e. the history of the Dust Bowl, the Great Depression, etc.), but it is also an exemplary text, showing students what poetry and prose can look like and what different purposes they may serve.
In "Out of the Dust", the poems tell the story. By definition, prose does not have meter. This book is presented as a single story and it can be read cover-to-cover. However, it is set up in chunks of what appears to be poetry that is metered, structured, and even sometimes rhymed. It is the kind of poetry that especially our young students may not necessarily expect. What better way to introduce a unit on poetry?
Using this text, a teacher can segue into a unit on poetry and its different forms and purposes. Other texts (traditional and non-traditional) can be added to this one to prove the point that poetry is meant for interpretation and it does not always come in cookie-cutter form; it can take many forms. The teacher can, through primary and supplementary text, explore the different forms of poetry with students and teach them what it really means to write poetry. The teacher can conduct activities where he or she is asking students what they think about the "poetry" used in "Out of the Dust", whether or not they find it effective for the purpose of the story, whether or not they consider it poetry both before and after reading, and so on. The teacher can then have students use "Out of the Dust" as a model for their own poetry. The purpose is to link everything back to the text and allow for scaffolding of activities to build toward further learning. Each activity should build on the one before and help set up the next thing, weaving text and additional learning as well as personal practice and production.
"Out of the Dust" is a great tool for any teacher to use as a genre study. It takes the form of many different genres, depending on perspective, and by nature it can allow for further exploration of any of the literary genres. Do we consider it a novel, a story, an example of prose, or a collection of poetry? Is it a young adult or children's story, or something else? These are all questions a teacher can explore with his or her students through a unit, inspired by "Out of the Dust" on literary genres.